Frayed Knot

PLAYERHRsSBsRickey Henderson2971,406Barry Bonds762514Johnny Damon229400 Incorrect guesses: Willie Mays (660/338) Alex Rodriguez (628/305) Hint #1 - Only Damon is active

PLAYERHRsSBsRickey Henderson2971,406Barry Bonds762514Johnny Damon229400 Incorrect guesses: Willie Mays (660/338)

Mays = No Rickey = Yes

No, this is not a test about MLB players with really bad eyesight. But rather you have to name the other [u:lhlunnxh]eight guys who have 200 careers HRs and 400 careers steals[/u:lhlunnxh] now that Johnny Damon swiped a base last night and joined that club. Let's keep things to one guess at a time.

The recent call-up gets a write-up from John Sickels: -- Mets prospect Chris Schwinden was unheralded pre-season, but finds himself starting games down the stretch for New York and will have a chance to contribute in 2012. Schwinden was drafted out of Fresno Pacific University in 2008, as a 22nd round choice, essentially a roster-filler pick for the minor leagues. He performed very well in the New York-Penn League that summer, posting a 2.01 ERA with a 70/12 K/BB in 63 innings, demonstrating sharp control. Command remained his key attribute in 2009 as well: he went 10-6, 3.34 in 127 innings between Low-A Savannah and Double-A St. Lucie, with a sharp 92/18 K/BB, although he gave up 138 hits. He returned to St. Lucie for 2010 and was great, with a 1.83 ERA and a 23/5 K/BB in 34 innings. Promoted to Double-A, he ran into a wall at Binghamton, posting a 5.56 ERA and giving up an unsightly 100 hits in 79 innings. He kept his K/BB ratio solid at 69/19, but going into 2011 he looked like a guy whose stuff was short of major league quality. Schwinden was undeterred however, and ended up having a fine season this year for Triple-A Buffalo, with a 3.95 ERA and a 134/48 K/BB in 146 innings, allowing 138 hits. He was promoted to the majors for this month and gave up eight hits and five runs in five innings in his first start, though he walked just one and fanned four. There is nothing special about his velocity, his fastball is just in the 86-90 range. He mixes in a cutter, curveball, and changeup, relying on sharp command of his secondary pitches to succeed. He has little margin for error and needs a strong defense behind him, but there are pitchers with worse stuff who have made careers for themselves due to superior command, and he's shown the ability to make adjustments to higher level competition. Schwinden really snuck up on us this year, but I don't see him as a total fluke. I think he projects as a fifth starter or long relief type as long as his command remains strong.

So after taking 3 straight from Milwaukee and looking like; 'Yeah, we're not only going to better that NYM mark but blow through the NL playoffs as well', the Cheese-steaks went and lost the final game to the Brews and now have drooped the first two in Houston. [sterling]I tell you Susan you just can't figure this game out[/sterling] As a result, the Phils now need to go 14-3 to match the 108 win season and a steam-rolling 15-2 to better it. Ain't. Gonna. Happen. All those 'At this same point in the season' charts fail to show that the '86ers were destined to finish their season on a 15-4 run. The other race here is the one to see if Houston will LOSE 108 games. Not that that'll get them anywhere near that other NYM record but, with just 14 games remaining, the Astros need a 4-10 or better finish in order to stay ahead of that rarely-reached .333 season. Unexpectedly taking the first two from Philly certainly helped them there. They do have, however, a whopping 10-game lead in the 'We get the first pick in next June's draft' race, so that one looks pretty well sewn up.

Fucking pathetic.

I'll take back all the fucking things I've said about this fucking team if Duda parks a fucking pitch in the fucking stands.

WOW! A fucking hit!!! Now we've got one more runner we can strand on base.

We're also going on about six innings of not getting a single fucking hit off one of their relievers!! (OK, that's probably an exaggeration but it's close)

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: I have a sneaking suspicion both managers are making a little buck-per-managerial-move secret bonus or something. It's one reason why the first 4 innings of this game took less than an hour and the next three have taken nearly two.

They're handing this game away even worse than last night's.

One thing Terry's got to remember when he thinks about putting on the bunt sign ... the fact that our entire team suxx at it! Including the pitchers.

The defensive deficiencies of Duda on display in this inning -- not an error, but a leadoff bloop single that had a lot of air and is caught by probably 90% of ML OFers. And then a two-out hit which never should have even come to bat ties the game and gets us into the pen sooner than you'd like.

Ummmm, we're still not hitting. Fortunately, neither are they. Scoreless in the 5th.

I had a mini-winning streak a week or so back and we are NOT going to lose 3rd place to these chumps. Wang v Gee Reyes - SS Tejada - 2B Duda - RF Wright - 3B Pagan - CF Harris - LF Evans - 1B Thole - C Gee - P Bay apparently with a sore shoulder

They're still his words. That makes him a shitbag. ... Perhaps it's unfair, but I feel like Torre supports this decision. When he was asked why the Yankees didn't wear the hats after 9/11, he spouted something about the brand being too important, bla bla bla. I think he was always hoping it would go away. I'm not suggesting you need to like what Torre said here. Sure the words came out of his mouth/pen (whether they were actually his or not) and he may very well support the whole idea. My only point is that we're in danger of shooting the messenger here on the basis of not liking from his previous job and anyone who thinks that this was all his decision or believes in the laughable idea that he's doing this strictly to screw the Mets due to some long-ago slight is missing the larger picture (and possibly a few nuts & bolts). Think of 'Deep Throat' in ATPM telling Woodward to "stop thinking that this is all the work of little Donald Fucking Segretti" (I seem to be in a classic movie quoting mood today). Torre is saying these things because he was assigned the job to do so just as he was doing ten years back when his MFY bosses decided that their precious 'brand' was too important to mar with the service hats. That doesn't make him right either time, but nor does it make him the originator of either policy. P.S. none of this keeps that card from being priceless either.

Most union reps wind up being union reps because no one else wanted the job. That part of it at least is nothing unusual.

"Nothing was ordered." Wait, what? What about unanimity? Are you saying MLB didn't actually deny the request? Major Strasser: "Mr Lazlo we should discuss your presence here in Casablanca in the office of the prefect of police, say tomorrow morning at 10 AM" Victor Lazlo: "Captain Renault, I am under your authority here in Casablanca, is it your order that I appear tomorrow?" Captain Renault: "Let's just say that it is my request, that's a much nicer way to put it" Look folks, as much fun as it is to lump this all on Torre I think it's pretty clear that he's being used here as the pr guy. Selig's office probably said to itself; "Hey, we really suck at pr, but we also got Torre here on the payroll and he's from New York and everyone there likes him, so if anyone can smooth this mess over it'll be old Joe". So then Joe gets told what to say and when the fan unexpectedly spits most of the shit back at him he's stumbling around like Ralph Kramden going; "hummina, hummina" because he was never in on the decision in the first place which involves whatever marketing deal they struck with the cap company and their third-world factory.

Centerfield wrote: Even this guy gets it: And he ain't even a 'merican

Acosta - 1.0 Beato - 0.7 Thayer - 0.3 Pagan - 2.0 Tejada - 1.0 Bay - 1.0 Evans - 1.0 Pridie - 1.0 Reyes - 1.0

Capuano - 3.5 Herrera - 0.2 Wright - 1.4 Bay - 1.5 Reyes - 1.2 Duda - 0.8 Harris - 0.4 Tejada - 0.6

Pelfrey - 2.0 Stinson - 0.3 Byrdak - 0.2 Parnell - 0.2 Turner - 3.1 Bay - 1.8 Evans - 0.7 Reyes - 0.7 Pagan - 0.5 Wright - 0.5

Pathetic game.

bmfc1 wrote: The good news is that the Mets held a press conference to decry bullying: Dave Howard, Chris Capuano, and some politicians. Always good to distinguish yourself from those pro-bullying organizations.